Wednesday, 28 December 2016

Record rainfall causes massive floods in Australia's outback in what meteorologists called a twice-a-century weather event.

Photo ABC
Six missing people have been found safe after record rainfall caused floods in Australia's outback.
Northern Territory police had been "seriously concerned" for the group amid what meteorologists called a twice-a-century weather event.
Four of the six were rescued by helicopter on Tuesday, while the remaining two were found on Wednesday.
The Christmas storm drenched the usually dry region, causing flash floods and turning the soil into mud.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the conditions were extremely rare, creating waterfalls all over Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, a site sacred to indigenous people at the heart of a famous Northern Territory national park.
Many South Australians will be waking up with out power after the same severe weather system that caused flooding in the Northern Territory travelled south. SA Power said on Wednesday about 100,000 people were without power following gale force winds overnight, which resulted in widespread damage to the state's electricity grid.
Paul Roberts from SA Power said despite a major response from crews, delays to the restoration of power were likely due to the extensive nature of the outages.
Heavy rain, as much as 117mm, and winds up to 100km/h had hit northern parts of South Australia by Tuesday.
Adelaide is expected to get the bad weather by midnight, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a severe weather warning.
The South Australian SES had attended to 96 calls for assistance by 10:30pm on Tuesday.
While winds will ease on Wednesday, showers will continue for Adelaide and could develop into thunderstorms as the high humidity continues.